Upright-piano action.



No. 772,683. PATENTED OCT. 18, 1904.

M. STEINERT. I

UPRIGHT PIANO ACTION.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 11, 1904.

N0 MODEL.

UNITED STATES Patented October 18, 1904.

PATENT CEEicE.

UPRlGHT-PIANO ACTION.

SPEGIFIGATIONforming part of Letters Patent No 772,683, dated October 18, 1904.

Application filed anuary 11, 1904. Serial No 188,566. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern/.-

Be it known th at LMoRRIs STEINERT, of New Haven, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Upright-Piano Actions; and

I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings and the numerals of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, and which said drawings constitute part of this specification, and represent, in-

Figure 1, a view in vertical section of an upright-piano action embodying my invention; Fig. 2, a detached View of the hammerlever, hammer-butt, hammer-arm, and the link connecting the butt and lever, which latter is shown partly in section to illustrate the connection of the link with the lever.

My invention relates to an improvement in upright-piano actions of the type illustrated and described in my prior patents, No. 585,717, dated July 6,1897; No. 625,129, dated May 16, 1899, and No. 679,485, dated July 30, 1901.

The object of my presentinvention is to produce a pianoforte-action akin to my said patented actions and secure tone-power without brutality of attack, sensitiveness of'touch, a high capacity for repetition, noiselessness in the action itself, and the production of the intimate tone quality of the precursors of the pianoforte.

With these endsin view my invention consists in an upright-pianoforte action having certain details of construction and combinations of parts, as will be hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claim.

In carrying out my invention as herein shown the piano key-lever2 is furnished with an adjusting-screw 3, on which rests the felted lower end of the pilot-rod 4, which is supported in place and guided by a pilot-rod link 5, pivoted to it and having its inner end pivotally mounted in a flange 6, secured to the pilot-lever rail 7, the term flange be-.

ing the name given to this part of a pianoaction wherever used therein, though the part itself is yoke-like in form. The upper end of the pilot-rod 4 is pivoted to the forward end of a jack-lever 8, mounted in a flange 9, secured to a jack-lever rail 10. A flange 11, mounted upon the jack-lever, carries a jack 12, the upper end of which coacts'with the felted escapement-face 13 ofthe hammer-lever 14, which is pivotally mounted in a flange 15, secured tothe front face of a combinationrail 16, which is located back of the plane of the jack-lever rail 10 and substantially in the same vertical plane as the pilot-lever rail 7. The hammer-lever 14 has its upper edge formed with a groove 17, containing a pin 18, receiving the notched and felted lower end of a short link 19, the upper end of which is pivoted to the hammer-butt 20, which is pivoted to a horizontally-arranged flange 21, secured to the top of the combination-rail 16. The hammer-shank 22, rising from the inner portion of the butt 20, carries the hammerhead 23, which strikes a string 24, arranged in the usual manner. This string is damped by a felted damper 25, adjustably secured to the upper end of a rod 26, mounted in the upper end of a vertically-arranged damperlever 27, which is pivotally hung in a horizontally-arranged flange 28, secured to a shoulder 29, formed upon the inner side of the combination-rail 16. The lower end of the hammer-lever 27 is felted for coacting with an upright operating-finger 30, mounted in the inner end of the jack-lever 8. A spring 31, secured to the flange 28, engages with the upper end of the damper-lever and exerts a constant effort to press the damper against the string. The hammer-arm 22 normally rests upon the felted face of a hammer-rest rail 32, against which the hammers are normally held by the hammer-spring 33, the lower end of which engages with the inner edge of thehammer-butt 20 and the upper end of which is secured to the hammer spring-rail 34, the inner edge of which is felted for coaction with the damperarm 26. Each hammerbutt 20 carries a buffer 35, extending outwardly and downwardly from it and coacting with the felted upper end of a hammer-check 36, supported upon the upper end of a rod 37, rising from the outer end of the jack-lever 8.

To insure the prompt return of the hammer into its normal or retired position and to assist the action of gravity in this respect, I connect the outer end of the hammer-lever 14 by a strap 37 with the upper end of a wire 38, mounted in the extreme outer end of the jack-lever 8. The jack 12 is controlled in its play by an adjustable button 39, horizontally arranged in the upper flange of a but-,

ton-rail 40, the lower flange of which carries an adjustable button 41, coacting with the upper edge of the short arm 42 of the jack 12, which is returned to its operative position with respect to the escapernent-face 13 of the hammer-lever 14 by means of a spiral spring 43, interposed between the lower edge of the said short arm 42 and the upper edge of the jack-lever 8.

\Vith an upright-piano action having its several members constructed and arranged as shown and described and properly proportioned with respect to each other so as to secure the right leverage I secure a relincd power and a range of tonal color production not before, as I believe, achieved in the history of the instrument, lifting thepianoforte to ahigher plane as a musical instrument than it has before reached and enabling the player to bring the instrument under his intimate control for the expression of his :feeling and the display of his virtuosity to a degree hitherto unknown. My improved action is for the same reason responsive to the slightest touch upon the keys and has great capacity for repetition without loss of clarity of tone and without the production of any noise by the action itself. In short, I secure the dynamic power and capacity for repetition of the modern pianoforte with the range of intimate tone quality peculiar to its precursors.

It is apparent that in carrying out my invention many changes from the construction and arrangement herein shown and described may be made. I would therefore have it understood that I do not limit myself to the exact construction shown, but hold myself at liberty to make such departures therefrom as fairly fall within the spirit and scope of my invention.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

In an upright-piano action, the combination With a jack-lever, of a jack, a hammerlever with which the jack coacts, a hammerbutt, a link connecting the hammerlever and hammer-butt, a vertically-arranged damperlever the lower end of which coacts with the inner end of the jack-lever, a buffer carried by the hammer-butt, a hammer-check carried by the outer end of the jack-lever and coacting with the said buffer, and a combinationrail having the flange of the hammer-lever secured to its outer face, the flange of the hammer-butt secured to its upper edge and the flange of the damper-lever secured to its rear face.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

MORRIS STEINERT.

IVitnesses:

CLARA L. Venn, GEORGE D. SEYMOUR. 

